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AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry doesn't like a transportation bill Texas lawmakers sent him and threatened Wednesday to call them back to address the issue if no solution is reached before the legislative session ends May 28. "The good news is, there's still time to fix it .... if not, I have no other option as the leader of this state than to bring the Legislature back until we address these issues and we get Texas back to where it can have a vibrant transportation infrastructure," Perry said. Though a two-year moratorium on private toll road contracts is a major...

AUSTIN — The House gave final approval Wednesday to placing a two-year moratorium on private toll road contracts, sending the bill to Gov. Rick Perry and setting up a showdown over the future of the state's transportation policy. Perry had urged the Legislature to reject the freeze but has stopped short of promising a veto. The House approved the measure 139-1, showing it has broad enough support that lawmakers could vote to override the governor if he tries to kill it. The Senate approved the bill 27-4 last week. The Legislature can override a veto with a two-thirds vote of...

AUSTIN -- The Texas Senate passed its second bill this session creating a two-year moratorium on privately funded toll roads Friday, a sharp rebuke of Gov. Rick Perry's plan to solve the state's transportation problems. Senators voted 27-4 to approve the bill, which would prevent the creation of toll roads made by public entities contracting with private companies. The Senate passed a similar bill earlier, but that version appears dead in the House. The version approved Friday easily passed the House this month by a vote of 137-2. The bill's Senate sponsor, Republican Tommy Williams of The Woodlands, said he...

AUSTIN - A two-year moratorium on private toll roads that won preliminary approval in the House last week would put the brakes on the Trans-Texas Corridor, a superhighway that a private firm received a contract for earlier this year. The moratorium also would halt seven near-term projects in the state, said Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, the Brenham Republican who added the proposal to a House bill. "This is us tapping the brakes, looking before we leap ... into contracts that last 50-plus years," Kolkhorst said. Her proposal would require the state to create a commission to study the effects of private...

Hundreds of people angry with the state's toll road contracts sounded off before state senators Thursday. Public hearings on toll roads and the Trans Texas Corridor began early Thursday morning. Senators invited public input because state lawmakers will make some important decisions this session about how to pay for highways. So many people showed up that crowds were forced into overflow rooms. The Texas Department of Transportation and toll roads have found many critics, largely because of the private companies hired to build and run them. There are also questions about how much taxpayers pay for the roads. Speakers sounded...

p>AUSTIN - Repeat sex offenders who prey on young children would face the ultimate wrath of the state -- death by lethal injection -- under a proposal unveiled Tuesday by Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. The proposal is aimed at combating what Dewhurst, leader of the state Senate, calls an "epidemic" of sex crimes targeting children. Under the plan, those who sexually prey on children under 14 would receive no less than 25 years in prison for a first conviction. "And heaven forbid you should ever do it a second time," Dewhurst said. "It's the death penalty."Republican Attorney General Greg...

Hutchison choice softens intensity of GOP primary ASSOCIATED PRESS AUSTIN (AP) - With Gov. Rick Perry and Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn now strapping up for what promises to be a fiery gubernatorial campaign, expectations of shifting across the Republican primary have all but fizzled out. The GOP holds every statewide elected office in Texas and party leaders had been gearing up for a grand game of political musical chairs in case U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison jumped into the 2006 governor's race. Instead, Hutchison opted for another run at the Senate, leaving most GOP office holders sitting right where they...

h2>$400 million surplus forecast for Texas AUSTIN - Texas lawmakers will have more money to work with in this year's legislative session, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn said today. In her highly anticipated revenue estimate released the day before the two-year legislate session begins, Strayhorn reported Texas will have $64.7 billion in state money for the 2006-2007 biennium. That would give the state $400 million surplus after paying for existing programs, higher than earlier estimates. Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who presides over the Senate, had said he expected a shortage of $1 billion to $2 billion. "Our state's great economic...

Perry's approval rating lowest seen in 10 years AUSTIN (AP) — More than half of Texans surveyed in a new poll rate Republican Gov. Rick Perry's job performance as fair or poor, the lowest for a Texas governor in almost a decade. Only 6 percent of respondents in a Scripps Howard Texas Poll released Tuesday said the governor is doing an excellent job, and 31 percent said he is doing a good job. Another 32 percent listed Perry's performance as fair and 20 percent rated it as poor. Eleven percent did not know or didn't answer. By contrast, 50 percent...

Monday, May 10, 2004 Consider these ingredients: The governor, who once opposed the idea of gambling to raise money for the state, comes out in favor of it. A tax bill is taken apart on the House floor by restive members. The Senate is called upon to try to clean up and perhaps cure the school finance mess, while the courts stand ready to act. That was in 1991. But it seems like it's happening all over again. In 1991, Democrat Ann Richards was governor. Though she'd earlier spoken negatively about a lottery, she was backed into endorsing it in...

Commentary: Dave McNeely Comptrollers count office as rung up Thursday, April 22, 2004 The three Texas comptrollers since 1975 have wanted to be governor. Carole Keeton Strayhorn is no exception. The first two — the late Bob Bullock and John Sharp, both Democrats — eventually settled for a run at lieutenant governor. Bullock won; Sharp didn't. Strayhorn, one loud grandma, has yet to announce her plans. Though she's a Republican like Gov. Rick Perry, Strayhorn has been slapping Perry every time he turns around. She says he: is an ineffective leader, should put more money into the Children's Health Insurance...

Schools may teach Perry new lesson Dave McNeely Thursday, December 11, 2003 Gov. Rick Perry has said he'll call a special session on school finance when legislators agree on a solution. But that might never happen — particularly if Perry continues his opposition to new taxes. The Republican governor said in his inaugural speech Jan. 21, "(W)e will continue to invest in the greatest economic development tool in the history of this state: the education of our children — all of our children." But five paragraphs earlier, Perry said, "When the economy is uncertain, it is precisely the wrong time...

Remap fray envelops Dewhurst 'Mr. Inclusion' sees role turn into 'Mr. Hardball' in state fight08/04/2003By TERRENCE STUTZ / The Dallas Morning News AUSTIN – It's been a trying month for the man who many consider the most powerful elected official in Texas. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, widely praised by Democrats and Republicans for his smooth running of the Senate in the regular legislative session this year, has seen his bipartisan image tarnished in the bitter fight over which party should have the most congressional seats in Texas. Mr. Dewhurst, a Republican, was compelled to take up his party's fight...

Dewhurst optimistic Senate would OK redistricting map He says votes would be there if House draws up fair plan on boundaries06/13/2003 By GROMER JEFFERS JR. / The Dallas Morning News Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst predicted Thursday that the Senate would give final approval to a new congressional redistricting map if the House came up with a fair plan. "There are not 21 hard votes today," said Mr. Dewhurst, the president of the Senate. "But if a good plan comes out of the House, I believe we will have 21 votes and will pass redistricting." At least two Democratic senators would...

Analysis: Tallying Senate redistricting votes is tricky By Laylan Copelin AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Wednesday, June 11, 2003 If the Republicans want to take over the state congressional delegation, they will have to overcome a venerable Texas Senate tradition and an unpredictable group of senators. For the Democrats to lose on this partisan issue, it will take at least two and perhaps more Senate Democrats to vote with Republicans to even bring up the issue of congressional redistricting. Under a tradition that's evolved since the 1950s, a two-thirds vote of the senators present is required to get a bill to the...

Start cuts now, Texas agencies ordered State leadership directs budgets to be trimmed by 7 percent 01/24/2003 By TERRENCE STUTZ / The Dallas Morning News AUSTIN - Texas' top three leaders, in their first joint effort to combat the state's budget woes, on Thursday called for a 7 percent spending reduction in all state agencies that is expected to include hiring freezes and possible layoffs. Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick sent a letter to all agency chiefs directing them to enact immediate cutbacks so the state can pare a projected $1.8 billion...